Anvil of Bogardan, Mornsong Aria, and Ob Nixilis, Unshackled combo?
Asked by Rmachowski 1 month ago
If I play Mornsong Aria and Anvil of Bogardan then cast Ob Nixilis, Unshackled would opponents have to search for 2 cards? If so does Ob Nixilis' ability trigger 2x?
Key texts:
Anvil of Bogardan- each player skips their discard phase. During each player's draw phase, that player draws an additional card and then chooses and discards one.
Mornsong Aria- Players cant draw cards or gain life. At the beginning of each players draw step, that player looses 3 life, searches their library for a card, puts it in their hand, then shuffles.
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled- Whenever an opponent searches his or her library, that player sacrifices a creature and looses 10 life.
Anvil of Bogardan has an updated rules text, making it clearer it's a triggered ability: "At the beginning of each player’s draw step, that player draws an additional card, then discards a card."
The opponent would only search once. Here's how I see it breaking down:
- Opponent's draw step, Mornsong Aria and Anvil trigger. You choose the order they resolve in.
2 (a). If Aria resolves first, they search for a card, get hit by Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, and get their card. Aria prevents the draw from Anvil.
2 (b). If Anvil resolves first, the draw is prevented by Aria. Aria resolves, they search for a card, get hit by Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, and get their card.
Either way, Aria prevents the draw from Anvil from happening.
February 7, 2026 6:27 p.m.
Note that the discard from Anvil is not prevented. If they're empty handed you can have them search, then discard the card they find. They'll be able to cast an instant before having to discard, but it would stop them from playing most things, including lands.
February 9, 2026 6:54 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
Rmachowski: Answers to your question have been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked one of them as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.
Noire_Samhain says... #1
Mornsong Aria prevents players from drawing at all, it's not a replacement effect akin to Underrealm Lich, so Bogardan wouldn't double the search. Each player would get one search and therefore trigger Ob Nixilis once each opponent's draw step.
February 7, 2026 5:45 p.m.